Who has qualified for 2026 World Cup? England among 28 booked in… | OneFootball

You know what’ll be here before we know it? The World Cup. With England now definitely in it.

The 2026 World Cup is a) somehow only seven months away and b) absolutely bloody massive. Some might suggest it is, if anything, Clive, almost too massive. As you no doubt know by now there are a frankly unwieldy 48 teams heading to USA, Canada and Mexico next summer and that means the various qualification processes across FIFA’s six continental confederations all look a bit different this time.

All apart from CONMEBOL, of course, who remain rightly and righteously wedded to their lovely 10-team league. It is, admittedly, an option not really open to any of the other confederations.

Anyway, what we’re driving at is that it’s already high time we take a look at how these various qualification tournaments are progressing – and some of them have five separate stages so it’s all going to take a bit of unravelling.

We now know over half of the 48 and can start to have a decent go at guessing who will fill the rest of the spaces.

Three of the confirmed qualifiers are heading to the World Cup finals for the first time in their history.

The 28 teams so far who have qualified for the 2026 World Cup:

USA (hosts) Mexico (hosts) Canada (hosts) England (UEFA) Morocco (CAF) Tunisia (CAF) Egypt (CAF) Algeria (CAF) Ghana (CAF) Cape Verde (CAF) South Africa (CAF) Ivory Coast (CAF) Senegal (CAF) Japan (AFC) Iran (AFC) Uzbekistan (AFC) South Korea (AFC) Jordan (AFC) Australia (AFC) Qatar (AFC) Saudi Arabia (AFC) Argentina (CONMEBOL) Ecuador (CONMEBOL) Brazil (CONMEBOL) Uruguay (CONMEBOL) Colombia (CONMEBOL) Paraguay (CONMEBOL) New Zealand (OFC)

2026 World Cup qualification: UEFA (Europe)

Total teams: 54

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 16

Already qualified: England

Can still qualify: 39

How it works:

Still a lot to play out in UEFA’s qualification process, with plenty of teams in the four-team groups only getting up and running during the September international break.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The 54 teams have been split into 12 qualifying groups, half with five teams and half with four. The four teams who made it to the last four of the Nations League are all in late-starting four-team groups so they could conclude that Nations League hooplah, while the five-team groups could have no more than one team involved in Nations League title/promotion/relegation palaver, who sat out the first round of games and only got involved in June.

Everyone else in the five-team groups kicked off in March.

The 12 group winners all qualify directly for the World Cup, with the 12 runners-up plus the four highest-ranking Nations League group winners who have finished outside the top two in their groups then setting off down four play-off routes to settle the four remaining places.

That does provide a safety net for Wales, who are ranked seventh among Nations League group winners and now guaranteed a play-off spot regardless of where they finish in their qualification group with four of the six teams ranked above them now themselves certain of top-two finishes at least.

Even Northern Ireland down in 12th after a League C win will likely find themselves in the play-offs via that route if need be given the likelihood of most Nations League group winners above them finishing in the top two of their qualifying groups anyway.

One general thing to note is that UEFA are pound-for-pound the smallest ‘winner’ from the World Cup’s expansion having gained only three spots from 2022’s 13. Unlike everywhere else, it isn’t conspicuously easier to qualify now than it was before. UEFA is also the only confederation that won’t be represented at the inter-confederation play-offs.

Likely qualifiers:

England are the first European team to confirm their spot after sauntering through a desperately weak Group K in textbook can-only-beat-what’s-in-front-of-you fashion.

Wales and Scotland are now guaranteed at least a play-off spot one way or another, with Northern Ireland almost certain to join them.

Norway have won six out of six and are on the brink of confirming a World Cup place for the first time since 1998. They are already guaranteed at least second place and a play-off spot but it would be miraculous now if they were to miss out on automatic qualification.

Portugal were minutes away from joining England in confirming their spot with a full international break to spare, but conceding a late equaliser to Hungary means they still have formalities to conclude. It shouldn’t be a problem; they hold a five-point lead with two games to play.

France and Spain would have to do something quite silly from here not to win their groups from their current lofty perches, while Austria, Netherlands, Croatia and Switzerland have all now put themselves in charge of potentially trickier sections of the draw.

You’d still expect class and experience to tell for Germany and Belgium, but both still have a bit to do after not entirely convincing thus far, while Denmark are at this stage the most tentative pick of the group winners, with nothing to choose between them and Scotland. They are both now assured of a top-two finish in that group and with it at least a play-off spot.

Potential runners-up who will head to the play-offs include – with varying degrees of confidence – Slovakia, Kosovo, Scotland, Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Bosnia, Italy, North Macedonia, Albania and Czech Republic.

If – and it is still a very, very big if – those are indeed the 12 group winners and 12 runners-up from World Cup qualifying, then the four Nations League group winners who would make it to the play-offs alongside those 12 runners-up would be Wales, Romania, Sweden and Northern Ireland.

Wales and Northern Ireland still have a decent shot at a top-two finish in their World Cup groups anyway. If Wales do make it, it would likely come at the expense of North Macedonia who would then almost certainly land in the play-offs themselves. Wales are ranked seventh among the Nations League group winners, and North Macedonia 11th. A look at the teams above them suggests neither would have any concerns about being among the four highest to finish outside an automatic qualification or play-off spot.

Romania are struggling for a top-two finish in a group dominated by Bosnia and Austria, while Sweden are making a horrible mess of things currently in Switzerland’s group having managed just one point from four games.

It’s still possible that Moldova or even San Marino could appear in the play-offs; they are the Nations League Group D winners and Moldova certainly could easily find that nine of the 12 teams above them in the play-off lists finish in the top two. Norway definitely will, while Spain, Portugal, France, and England all almost certainly will, while Germany and Czech Republic definitely should (the latter despite the Faroe Islands currently making an exhilaratingly bold run at doing a complete madness by pipping them to second spot).

So Romania and Sweden will almost certainly take two of the four spots, along with whichever one of Wales or North Macedonia finishes third in their group (assuming for now they don’t both nudge out Belgium altogether, which is rather less likely after Wales’ defeat to Belgium this month).

If all that were to happen, which it should, then if Germany and Northern Ireland take the top two spots in Group A, Moldova are in the play-offs.

If Wales and North Macedonia do still manage to nudge Belgium down to third in Group J, then San Marino are in business.

2026 World Cup qualification: CAF (Africa)

Total countries: 53

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 9 + 1 inter-confederation play-off

Qualified: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal

Can still qualify for inter-confederation play-offs: Gabon, DR Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria

Jumping from five qualifiers for 2022 to nine (and a half) for 2026 has required a reworking of the African qualifying format.

There were initially nine groups of six, with each group winner going to the World Cup, and the four best runners-up heading for play-offs consisting of straight semi-finals and then a final  in Morocco in November to secure Africa’s one spot in the last-chance-saloon inter-confederation play-offs (about which more later) that take place next March.

That runner-up ranking bit has been rendered distinctly messy by the fact Group E now contains only four teams rather than six following Congo’s suspension and Eritrea’s withdrawal.

The competing nations have apparently been informed that results against the sixth-placed team in each group will be discounted from the runners-up rankings to level the playing field somewhat.

The main group stage is now complete. 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco were the first to seal their place at next summer’s tournament, with Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Ghana all also now confirmed as group winners.

The biggest story, though, came from Group D, where Cape Verde stunned Cameroon to take top spot and qualify for their first ever World Cup. Iceland are the only smaller country, in population terms, to ever reach the finals.

South Africa survived a punishment for fielding an ineligible player, turning a 2-0 win over Lesotho into a 3-0 forfeit, to nevertheless pip Nigeria and Benin to win Group C.

Senegal and Ivory Coast grabbed the last two direct qualification spots by confirming their group wins on the final matchday.

The four teams to contest next month’s play-offs will be Gabon, DR Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria. The highest-ranked of those teams in FIFA’s next ranking update (due October 23) will face the lowest in one semi-final, with second facing third in the other.

The two winners will meet three days later for the right to be Africa’s representative in March’s inter-confederation play-offs, where six teams will compete for the final two tournament spots.

2026 World Cup qualification: AFC (Asia)

Total countries: 46

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 8 + 1 inter-confederation play-off

Qualified: Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Can still qualify for intercontinental play-off: UAE, Iraq

It’s been a long old process, and we’ve now got through four of the five stages. Luckily it all got under way right back in October 2023. For very obvious reasons.

The third round was the big one, generating six qualifiers from three six-team groups after a full double-round-robin.

Iran and first-time qualifiers Uzbekistan came through Group A.

South Korea and Jordan – another first-time qualifier – are through from Group B.

Japan dominated Group C and will be joined in North America next summer by Australia.

The fourth round saw the six teams who finished third and fourth in those three groups split into two groups of three for a quick-fire single round-robin tournament in October that confirmed the final two direct qualifiers. Qatar and Saudi Arabia won those groups.

All that is now left is to confirm Asia’s representative at the inter-confederation play-off. The two runners-up from stage four – UAE and Iraq – will play a two-legged play-off in November.

2026 World Cup qualification: CONCACAF (North America, Central America and Caribbean)

Total countries: 32 (plus USA, Mexico and Canada)

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 6 + 2 inter-confederation play-offs

Already qualified: USA, Mexico and Canada

Can still qualify: 11

How it works:

Six direct qualification spots plus a double helping of play-off action sounds very exciting, but you do have to remember half of those six direct spots have already been claimed by the hosts.

Nevertheless, the removal from the qualification process of the two traditional  CONCACAF powerhouses in USA and Mexico in particular still offers all kinds of chances for all kinds of teams.

With the hosts accounted for and a couple of play-offs eliminating the lowest-ranked teams, the remaining 30 CONCACAF members were split into six groups of five for a single round-robin (i.e. two home games, two away) with the top two from each of those groups going to the final stage where the remaining 12 teams are now in three groups of four.

Those groups play out a full home-and-away round-robin across the September, October and November international breaks with the three group winners off to the World Cup, and the best two runners-up heading to the intercontinental play-offs.

Likely qualifiers:

It’s incredibly tight as we move towards crunch time in all three final qualification groups with no clear favourites at this time. Suriname and Panama are level on six points at the top of Group A, with Guatemala only a point behind and still very much in the mix.

Jamaica lead Curacao by a single point in Group B, while Honduras’ two-point lead over Costa Rica with two games left is not as secure as it might initially appear. Honduras have played all three of their home games, and one of their two remaining away games is against Costa Rica and will likely prove pivotal. Haiti, a point behind Costa Rica, remain very much in contention with two home games to finish their campaign.

Whoever finishes second in Group B out of Jamaica and Curacao should make it to the inter-confederation play-offs, but which other group runner-up joins them is currently too close to call. Currently it would be Costa Rica, edging out Panama on goal difference.

Bermuda are the first of the final 12 teams to be eliminated altogether; with four defeats from their opening four games even second place in Group B is now beyond them.

2026 World Cup qualification: CONMEBOL (South America)

Total countries: 10

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 6 + 1 inter-confederation play-off

Qualified: Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay

Qualified for inter-confederation play-offs: Bolivia

South American qualifying has always possessed a pleasing straightforwardness, and the expansion of the finals had no real impact on this beyond further diluting what little jeopardy exists for the stronger nations.

It remained a clean and simple 10-team league, with everyone playing everyone else home and away. Just now with over half of those teams earning a direct path to the finals, and the team in seventh heading to the intercontinental play-offs where they should have a very good chance of success anyway.

Holders Argentina secured qualification several matchdays ago and finished up a whopping nine points clear at the top. They were followed home by Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay, those five teams ending up separated by a single point and all safely through.

Venezuela had looked set for the play-off spot across much of the campaign, but missed out at the very last to Bolivia after a wild 6-3 defeat to Colombia in their final game.

Even that result left Bolivia still needing to beat Brazil in their own final game, which they did. Peru and Chile had terrible campaigns, winning just two games apiece and finishing well adrift of the rest.

2026 World Cup qualification: OFC (Oceania)

Total countries: 11

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 1 + 1 inter-confederation play-off

Qualified: New Zealand

Qualified for inter-confederation play-offs: New Caledonia

The ins and outs don’t really matter now, with the OFC qualification campaign boxed off and squared away before some teams in other parts of the world had even begun.

Suffice to say it ended entirely unsurprisingly with New Zealand – very much the dominant force in the post-Australia OFC and thus one of the biggest long-term winners to emerge from the 48-team expansion – securing the confederation’s first ever direct-qualification World Cup spot with a 3-0 win over New Caledonia, who still have the chance to do a madness in the inter-confederation play-offs.

2026 World Cup qualification: Inter-confederation play-offs

Total countries: 6

Already qualified: New Caledonia (OFC), Bolivia (CONMEBOL)

Total 2026 World Cup spots: 2

How it works:

New Caledonia and Bolivia will be joined by two teams from CONCACAF and either UAE or Iraq from AFC and one of Gabon, DR Congo, Cameroon or Nigeria from CAF as detailed above in a quickfire tournament to be played in Mexico in March next year.

The four qualifiers ranked lowest by FIFA will meet in a pair of one-off semi-finals for the right to face the two highest-ranked teams in one-off finals that will decide the final two qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.